Tips to Improve Grip Strength at Home
Grab onto your silks (or seats) and join us this month to talk about how to improve your grip strength. Anyone who’s been up in the air knows how important it is to hold on, but how do you actually get better at it?
This guide covers the best ways to improve grip at home with exercises designed for aerialists, so you can fly safely and gracefully.
Why Grip Strength Matters in Aerial Arts
If your grip strength is on the weaker side, you may notice it hindering your progress. But what can a good strong grip do for you?
Essential for Holding Poses and Transitions
If it takes you three seconds to put on dancers footlocks in the air, you might think you don’t need much grip strength. But what if you want to add a cool pose, or make it look artistic in a performance? What about if that transition is at the end of a sequence and your arms are already tired? What if you make a mistake and miss a wrap?
The situation might be a little exaggerated, but hopefully it gets the point across that the more grip strength you have, the more options you gain for interacting with your apparatus.
A strong grip gives you a finer degree of control as you execute your skills, it can open up new pathways. It allows you to spend more time practicing without fatiguing, which is essential when learning new skills. Whether you train on silks, hoop, or pole, a good grip opens up options.
Reduces Fatigue and Prevents Injury
There’s a bit of a multiplicative effect when it comes to grip, if it is weak you will get tired quicker, and getting tired weakens your grip. A strong grip will not tire you out as much, and often comes with an increased endurance. This isn’t just for single moves, but works with or against you over an entire sequence or performance. Oftentimes it isn’t a cardio issue that forces us to come down, but it is muscle fatigue. Aerial is hard work, and that work starts from our connection to the apparatus.
When you don’t have a good grasp on the apparatus is when your risk of slipping and falling is at its highest. This risk is even higher when you’re already fatigued. Strengthening your grip will reduce the strain on your wrists and forearms, increase your endurance, and reduce the risk of injuring yourself, either by falling or spraining a muscle.
Enhances Performance and Confidence
Once you are able to hold poses for longer, and don’t get tired as quickly, you start to build up confidence. Your strength gives you more control in your movements, and the experience to know how to use it. You can push yourself in other areas of your technique when you feel confident in your grip.
A move that might start as timid and constrained because you are terrified of losing your balance and falling can become bigger and bolder as you can trust your grip to hold you in place, even if something goes wrong with the rest of the move. This will let you take your performances to new heights, as you open up new options to incorporate into your routines.
Understanding the Different Types of Grip Strength
There are also a few different ways we hold onto the apparatus.
Support Grip
Support grip refers to holding the apparatus while bearing only part of your body weight. It’s often a more relaxed grip used for balance and control, rather than holding us up entirely. This type of grip is essential for static poses and endurance-based tricks that require you to maintain a hold over extended periods of time.
Crush Grip
Crush grip is your “give-it-everything” grip. This is what you use when you are supporting yourself completely, like during a mid-air transition. It’s the most physically demanding type of grip, so it’s not something you want to rely on constantly. This grip draws strength primarily from the forearms, then through the hands and fingers.
Pinch Grip
Pinch grip involves using primarily the fingers and thumbs without wrapping the object fully into your palms. You might rely on this grip when holding a narrow piece of fabric that’s too small or slippery to grip fully. Because the fabric doesn’t engage your whole hand or forearms like a crush grip would, you’ll need to recruit smaller, intrinsic hand muscles for strength. This grip typically offers less power, but building it up is essential for moves that rely on finger and thumb engagement alone.
How to Improve Grip Strength at Home
These exercises can be done from home with minimal equipment. If you don’t have something on the list, feel free to substitute out for another one. Regular training will help you build up endurance much faster than doing these in short bursts. Try to do 3 sets of 20 reps for these exercises 3-5 times a week. If you don’t have equipment for all of them, but you do for some, then just do what you have the equipment for. It’s always better to do something than do nothing, even if you can’t do everything.
1. Tennis Ball Squeeze
Equipment Required: Tennis Ball
Targets: Finger and forearm strength
Why do them: Better grip on silks and ropes
How to do them: Hold a tennis ball in one hand, squeeze for 5 seconds. Think about engaging from your pinky first as that connects deeper into your forearm muscles.
2. Towel Twists
Equipment Required: Hand Towel
Targets: Wrist and Hand endurance
Why do them: Endurance for long aerial sessions
How to do them: Wring out a towel as hard as possible in both directions for one rep. Bring your hands closer together for more resistance, or further apart for less resistance. Find a place that leaves you tired but not exhausted after 20 reps.
3. Reverse Wrist Curls
Equipment Required: Dumbbell or Kettlebell
Targets: Strengthens forearm extensors
Why do them: Balance grip muscles so you don’t overdevelop in one direction
How to do them: Hold the weight in your hand, balance your forearm on your leg or a hard surface. Let your hand go down with the weight, and lift it up with your wrist. Do not move your arm at all, and focus your movement in the wrist.
Start with a lighter weight then build up over time.
4. Farmer’s Carry
Equipment Required: Dumbbell or Kettlebell
Targets: Grip endurance
Why do them: Holding positions for longer period of time mid-air
How to do them: In each hand, pick up a weight. Walk for 30-45 seconds, then put the weights down for a set. Make sure you are using the same weight on each side.
Start with a lighter weight then build up over time.
5. Plate Pinch Holds
Equipment Required: Weight plates
Targets: Finger and thumb strength
Why do them: Mimics pinch grip
How to do them: Hold a weight plate between your fingers and thumb for 30-45 seconds for a set.
Start with a lighter weight then build up over time.
6. Dead Hang Practice
Equipment Required: Pullup bar or aerial apparatus
Targets: Forearm, shoulder, and grip endurance
Why do them: Aerial endurance with support grip
How to do them: Hang from a pull-up bar. Make sure that you are engaging your back as you hang, and try to hang for 30-45 seconds per set. It is useful to do both long arm hangs, and short arm hangs. A long arm hang means your arms are straight, while a short arm hang involves pulling your chin above the bar. For a long arm hang, keep your arm straight and actively engage from your hands to forearms, to shoulders to your core. You are not just hanging loosely, but actively hanging. For a short arm hang, get your chin above your hands, hold your hands close to your shoulders, and engage everything.
How to Train for a Stronger Grip in Aerial Dance
Training your grip isn’t only at home, but is something that you can regularly improve on every time you go into the studio.
Engage Your Grip in Every Aerial Movement
As you practice new techniques, think about your grip, and be conscious of how you are holding the apparatus. Is the grip using your forearm or just your fingers? Are you supporting your grip through your shoulders and core?
The more active you are in your grip, the more control you can build over time. Developing awareness in how your grip is working during climbs, hangs, and wraps can dramatically improve your efficiency and overall technique.
Train with Different Grip Positions
Our hands and arms contain a variety of muscles, each engaged differently depending on grip position. Change up your grip regularly to make sure that you are getting all of them and that you always have enough strength to stabilize your grip. Cross training across apparatuses can be great for this, think about how your grip differs from hoop to silks. Use a mix of overhand vs underhand grips on hoop, regular, reverse or flamenco grip on silks. Each of these grips will feel different in your body, but with practice they can all become powerful tools in your aerial repertoire.
Increase Hang Time Gradually
Just as you can’t run a marathon without training, you can’t hang for a long time without putting in the effort. It doesn’t have to be long, but think about adding dead hangs to your warm up or conditioning. Go until your muscles start to feel weak to release, and over time you can build up endurance.
Use Grip-Challenging Tools
This can be as simple as using a thick towel or resistance band, or as complicated as specific workout equipment designed to challenge your grip strength.
Avoiding Common Grip Training Mistakes
While building grip strength is essential, it’s also easy to fall into habits that can stall progress or lead to injury. One of the most common mistakes is overtraining, especially with crush grip exercises. Because these muscles are small and used constantly while we train aerial, they need proper recovery time to rest and rebuild. If your forearms or hands feel sore for more than a day or two, take a break or focus on a different grip type and/or go lighter in weight or reps with your exercises.
It’s also important to train multiple grip styles. Diversifying your exercises ensures balanced strength and reduces the risk of overuse injuries. While training, be mindful of your form. If your shoulders, wrists, or hands are compensating awkwardly during exercises or hangs, that’s a sign to back off and reassess technique.
Lastly, you want to ensure you are training both sides equally, not just your dominant side. This helps prevent muscle imbalances that can affect your technique, cause discomfort, or even lead to injury over time. It’s common for aerialists to develop strength or coordination more quickly on one side, but neglecting your non-dominant side can limit your progress and create long-term issues. Make it a habit to alternate sides during training, and even intentionally lead with your non-dominant side during certain drills. Over time, this will build symmetry and greater overall control on the apparatus.
Final Thoughts on Training Grip Strength at Home
While a weak grip can be a huge obstacle to succeeding in aerial, it doesn’t have to mean an end to your training. Doing a thing is always a great way to get better at a thing, and that absolutely applies to your grip strength in aerial! Keep on practicing and training, and you will get the strength you need.
If you want to speed up that process, start doing these exercises regularly, and before long you can get a solid grasp on grip strength.
